Digital Technologies in Secondary Mathematics - How do they do it in Other Countries?

What is the source?

Dr Alison Clark-Wilson, Digital Technologies in Secondary Mathematics - How do they do it in Other Countries?, MA conference, Keele, 10 April 2012.

What's the big idea?

A discussion of the findings of the JMC research document Digtal Technologies and Mathematics Education.

What is their background?

Dr Clark-Wilson is Head of Research, Development and Consiltancy at the Mathematics Centre, University of Chichester.

What are they saying?

Advert: There's an online CPD session coming up on Weds 26th about dynamic geometry.

Joint Mathematical Council publication


What is a 'digital technology'?

What is:

• the statuory curriculum,
• approaches to t & l,
• the statutory assessment processes,
• cultural influences
  • France: embrace digital technology; it is common for recommended graphical calculators to be on sale in hypermarkets,
  • there is little use of technology in Hungarian mathematics classrooms
• access to the technology

Recommendation 1

• School and college mathematics should acknowledge the significan tuse of digital technology for expressive and analytic purposes both in mathematics practice outside the school and college and in the everyday lives of young people.

What sort of digital experiences might learners have some exposure to?

• Gaming software - Rollercoaster Tycoon for instance has quite a bit of maths in it
• Scratch and Kodu
• CAD/CAM Maple
• Animation software
• Mindstorms
• Mathematica

Recommendation 2
Curriculum and assessment in school mathematics should explicitly require that all young people become proficient in using digital technology for math purposes

Curriculum examples

• Victoria, Australia embraced CAS
  • at level 2: describe and draw 2D shapes with and without digital tech
  • at level 4 create symmetrical patterns, pictures and shapes with and without dig tech
• Bavaria Germany also use CAS
• European Schools
  • topic: quadratic dependency.... knowledge and skills describes what pupils must understand... use of technology - a bit more detail than the Australian curriculum
  • 2011-01-D-27-en-2
    

    2011-01-D-27-en-2.pdf
    

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Recommendation 3
High-stakes assessment needs to change in order to encourage the creative use of digital technology in mathematics classes in schools and colleges.

Assessment examples

• Victoria Australia
  • Mathematical Methods
• Bavaria
• Sweeden, Norway, Denmark
• Finland 2012

Recommendation 4
As the development of a technologically enriched student experience ...

EdUmatics
Have a look at some videos and training available at www.edumatics.eu. This is a rich research base.

Students typically work collaboratively. The majority of European use of digital technology is with more able older learners

R5
The UK DfE and Business, Innovation ...

Who should be represented in this task force
teachers?
students?
educational researchers?
university colleagues?
ed tech partners?
curriculum designers?
assessment designers?
politicians?
industialists?

Where can I learn more?

www.edumatics.eu
https://www.ncetm.org.uk/resources/34789

What next?

Explain what relevance this has to us:

• How will this change your practice?
• What do you or we need to do differently to make use of this idea?
• How will it improve learning?

Pay particular attention to the last question: if you can't see how it improves learning, say so.